Power Of Humanity
by TitanBreaker
Summary: A Cauldron member gone rogue and created a new organisation that rivals that of Cauldron itself. They seem to be preparing for something but what? (The name is dumb. Suggest a new one will you?)
1. Chapter 1

I walked out the school gates, the noise that my schoolmates were making was nothing more than a nuisance. I walked down the street past multiple stores when I heard someone speaking my name. I wasn't one to fight but I was certainly pissed when I figured out who spoke it.

Emma Barnes. The school's resident bitch. There was no good way to describe her and the two cronies she had with her. In fact, she was indirectly responsible for my 'trigger'. I decided to ignore them as confrontation would only put me at a disadvantage.

I walked to the Boardwalk, not like there was anything there but my mother worked late until the point she'd basically lived in her office and my father was oversees and would not be coming back any time soon. I pulled out a notebook and pen and started working on my costume and such. The tourist were flowing everywhere so it was a risk doing this but I knew what I was doing. I stumbled into a bookstore and I decided to look around. Not like I had enough money to buy anything but since I was here I might as well. The bookstore had nothing I wanted and after catching a death glare from an enforcer, I made my way home.

I went to the basement and lied on my bed. Yup. My room was literally the basement. It was rather clean and bright despite what you might think. The walls were white and the floor was white marble tiled. I went to the wardrobe and push aside the clothes I had a drew out a costume that I had been working on. It was a dark crimson with dark purple armor pieces that could survive a few shots before breaking. The eyes were covered with one-way black lens and the back of the head was exposed. It was a risk but I decided that it looked cool and kept it. The fabric was stretchy and would stop a knife or bullet. Daniel really knew how to craft things.

Oh. Daniel is a parahuman who could make any clothes or suit you need. He kept identities really well so if you knew him and had the money to pay for it, you could get any suit you need.

I glanced to the clock. 7pm.

No time like the present. I pulled on the costume and the plates, stowed a knife and other items into the spaces between the plate and the fabric and headed out to the docks.

The docks were a special type of ruined. With the homeless and gangs roaming the place, no one came here unless they're desperate, hiding or stupid. I walked through the alleys, always keeping to the shadows.

My power gave me a yellow, viscous fluid I dubbed 'ichor' that melted through most inorganic materials and a green flame that I dubbed 'Greek fire' that only worked on organic material, plus physically I was twice as good as the average adult male so there was that. I heard of powers breaking the Manton effect but I'm pretty sure I'm the second person who could do it.

I heard someone speaking. I peered over the corner and saw the leader of the biggest gang in Brockton Bay, Lung. I nearly cursed but I knew they would hear me or at least Lung would. He was easily 6 feet tall and had ornate tattoos of Eastern Dragons of every kind. He was the leader of the 'Azn Bad Boys' or ABB for short. From what I heard from the news and the internet, this guy grew stronger the longer he fought. He went up against large Protectorate teams and won, or at least not lose.

I saw bugs crawling over me and instinctively flinched. There were wasps and even some black widows. Why the fuck is black widows here? There wasn't enough prey to feed on here so… Then I saw her, crouching on the rooftop. She was looking at me but judging by her body language, she didn't see me or think of me as a threat.

I refocused on Lung and only caught the last few sentences. "…the children, just shoot. You see them lying on the ground? Shoot the little bitch twice to be sure…" At that point I just stopped listening and was already making my way to them. I was not in control of myself. The bugs washed over them before they noticed me. That girl must be controlling them. The goons that Lung was addressing was pulling out guns and knives. I opened my hand and ichor sprayed in a fine mist. Slowly melting away and weakening anything they had.

Cars pulled up behind me and I turned around. There was about 20 or so men coming at me with weapons. I let out a wave of ichor at them, melting away their weapon and clothes.

Whoops. Didn't think that'll happen.

I erected a wall of Greek fire right in front of them. The heat gave them a pause and when it died down no one was behind it. I turned back to Lung. Metal plates were already piercing from his skin. Bugs were still swarming him and his men. I sent a wave of ichor and amazingly enough it melted the metal plates he was creating.

I could see black widows and brown recluses, fire ants, wasp and bees stinging him. I circled him. Bug girl was dealing most of the damage but I could help by melting what armor he had. Lung let out a roar that shook me to the bones and I nearly wet myself. He was pissed and frustrated. Two things that made an already beast even more deadly.

Then, Lung exploded. He literally exploded with fire and heat, incinerating the bugs around him and the metals plates shot out and covered his body. I let out more ichor and started melting his armor and he grabbed me or at least tried to. I moved out of the way and saw that his eyes were pretty much fucked. He was running on what he could feel and touch. I blasted him with ichor at an angle. He swiped at the general direction of where the ichor was hitting him and melting his armor.

He set himself on fire from head to toe. Not like that was stopping my ichor. Silver liquid ran off of him and he was lashing out at everything. I backed up really quick. The brute was swatting at all the insects and burning them.

Suddenly, he stopped. The sudden silence was so surprising that I nearly gasp. He looked towards the rooftop and jumped on it. I was out of the woods. I gave an quiet exhale. Things could have gone worst I suppose. Lung could've grabbed me and snapped me in two but all in all a okay sta-

Lung was sent flying from the roof by something. It was too dark to see it but I could figure that A. It was really, really big and B. It took out Lung no probs. I saw 4 figures sliding off from a mount of the roof. I was curious and decided to move up the fire escape and onto it.

"…gonna feel a helluva lot worst tomorrow and our friend can get onto the roof with us."

Shit. I made my way onto the roof and saw the bug girl from before and the 4 figures. One was wearing a motorcycle garb but it's visor was that of a skull. He was entirely black and I couldn't make such else from him. There was a girl wearing black and purple probably and a eye mask. She had long, blonde hair and that 'know-it-all' smile I've seen to often. The other girl had not much of a costume, except a Rottweiler mask. The last person had a white mask, reminiscent of carnivals in Venice or Italy in general though not as detailed. Along with a coronet and a white shirt with skin-tight leggings tucked into knee-high boots, very renaissance fair like. Maybe as a dancer.

"Introductions would be nice." I told them.

The purple girl nodded and spoke up. "I'm Tattletale. This is Grue," she pointed at the motorcycle guy. "and Regent," pointing to the dancer. "And also Bitch but for the Protectorate to keep things PG they dubbed her Hellhound."

I nodded and told them "I'm well…. Corroson. It's stupid but works well with my abilities."

"What the fuck? That's the stupidest sounding name ever!" Regent laughed.

I didn't speak but just sprayed his front of the suit with ichor, melting it away. He instantly shut up and ran, trying to get out of the stream and wipe off the ichor to only get it on his hands.

Tattletale, Grue and Bug girl laughed at him.

"One tablespoon of my ichor will melt away one tablespoon of any inorganic material." I called after Regent.

"Yea. Fuck you." Regent snapped at me.

Tattletale spoke "A Cape is coming. Thanks you two for taking down Lung. We owe you guys one. Got any contacts?"

We shook our heads.

"How unfortunate. I'll contact you guys by some other method I suppose. Guys! We're leaving."

The four horsemen rode away. Despite everything I was still pretty pump and energetic. It was pretty awesome fighting Lung, even as a support. Guess my powers are pretty versatile for offense and support. I heard the sound of a motorcycle coming into the area. I turned around to see Armsmaster seemingly flying onto the rooftop. His distinct halbert shuddering as the grappling hook retracted into it. Armsmaster was the leader of the Protectorate of Brockton Bay.

The Protectorate. The single biggest global organization employed by most government to protect the villains from screwing around with societal norms and Endbringers. Each city with a large enough population of superheroes had a Protectorate team and a central base. Brockton Bay was officially 'the Protectorate of East-North-East'. They had a forcefield shrouded island that could be seen from the Boardwalk. Which was one of the reasons why the Boardwalk was built there in the first place.

Armsmaster wore his normal armour, a dark blue with silver highlights along with a v shaped visor that blocked the top half of his face. A immaculately trimmed beard and his posture almost regal. I heard that his tinker ability was spatial distortion devices but it doesn't seem likely now that I'm viewing him in person. His halbert was literally his only weapon which made his dangerous since he has everything he needed at all time but easily taken away with enough trickery and skill. It had a grappling hook, plasma ejectors, blades, EMPs and who knows what else.

This was a man you would not want to fight unprepared.

He looked at the two of us "You are gonna fight me?"

I had the idea and plan of taking him out by myself if it came to it but I'm pretty sure I'm dead if I said that.

"No. I'm not that stupid." I replied. Bug girl then said the most idiotic yet hilarious reply I have ever heard.

"I'm a good guy."

Jesus, I cannot even. I cannot even. I doubled over laughing before I could stoop myself. Just the most stupid comment ever. I could feel Armsmaster judging look and Bug girl's confused look behind their masks.

"Oh man. So sorry. It's just have you even look at yourself?"

"Shut up! I was halfway done with the costume before I realised it was too 'edgy' so I just decided to roll with it."

Armsmaster nodded "You're telling the truth."

I just recovered from my outburst. "Lie detector in your armor? That's new. Never heard about that."

Armsmaster looked at me and Bg. "You two are new faces. What are your names."

Not a question. An order. "Corruson." I replied. Bg didn't give a reply so I helped her along. "She doesn't have a name yet." I nodded to her.

"I haven't gotten a name because you know how hard is it to think of a bug-themed named without sounding stupid or evil?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't have a bug themed power so I don't know."

Armsmaster chuckled a bit. It made him more human instead of a imposing figure of absolute authority. "I wouldn't know either. I got into the early enough that I didn't have to worry about missing out on all the good names."

An awkward silence followed.

"I almost died." Bug girl told us, her voice was quiet.

When was she in any danger? She was on the…. oh. She was on the rooftop that Lung jumped to. That's why he jumped over there. He thought that I ran off and instead went after Bug girl when she was moving. So Lung had superhearing? Huh.

"That's why we have the Wards program."

The Wards program. It was a Protectorate subdivision that houses the 18-and-under superheroes. They had the backing of the entire Protectorate of their city and lo and behold Brockton Bay had its own set of Wards with naming ceremonies and such. Oh damn. I just realised that my appearance and name would be inputted into the Protectorate database so if I went full villain then… Oh well I suppose. Too late to do anything now.

"What about Lung?" I asked.

"Bruised, beaten and battered on the street when I arrived. I pumped him full of tranquilizers and restrained him with a steel cage that I bolted to the ground. I'll pick him up when I leave."

"That's great! With him in jail (read: Birdcage) we can feel like we accomplished something am I right?" I faced the Bug girl. She nodded her head.

"To be honest, I only engaged because I heard that he was gonna kill kids." I muttered.

"I suppose you didn't hear since you came up later but the 'kids' were those villains you saw." Bug girl told me.

"Wait what…." Behind the mask I had the most half-assed look ever in the world.

She nodded her head. "I engaged for the same reason but seeing you walk up to them gave me the courage to attack as well."

"These villains… They knew I was coming?" Armsmaster questioned

I nodded my head.

"That explains a lot." He paused, continuing after a few seconds. "They're slippery, we have some information on Grue and Hellhound since they worked before joining but Tattletale… She's the problem. If she has some way of tracking and detecting us it could go a long way of explaining why we haven't caught them."

"Despite, my short interaction with them I don't think Tattletale has that type of power." I offered.

Armsmaster looked at me with a slight frown. "What do identify as?"

It took me a moment to process his question. Then it clicked, he wasn't talking about sexuality. He was asking whether I was hero, villain or rogue.

"Rogue for now." I replied firmly.

"They don't seem to hardcore as villains. They were joking around and Grue said that they were panicking when they heard Lung was coming after us and he also made fun of Regent." Bug girl spoke up.

"They said this in front of you?"

"I guess the costumes made them think we were villains." I guessed.

"Could either of you win in a fight?" Armsmaster continued prodding.

"Probably not. Bug girl had most of her insects burned when facing Lung and Hellhounds dogs looked like they could rip us to shreds in a moments notice."

Armsmaster nodded.

"Now after all of this we must think of what we're doing after this." Armsmaster spoke. "Who gets credit for Lung's capture?"

I wanted to respond but he raised his finger, cutting off any arguments for now.

"Hear me out. What you did here was spectacular. But think of the consequences. Lung is the leader of an extensive gang in Brockton Bay and the neighboring cities. More than that, he was two superpowered flunkies. Oni Lee and Bakuda."

"I know about Oni Lee, and Grue mentioned fighting him. I've never heard about Bakuda." Bug girl told him

"Bakuda is a tinker right? She specialises in bombs and explosives from what I heard. She held up Cornwall but was forced to retreat by the New York PRT." I remembered.

Armsmaster nodded his head. "Now those two have two goals right now. To free Lung and take revenge on the one who did it. I suspect you're now aware… these are scary people. In some ways, even scarier than their boss."

"We shouldn't take credit. If we do we have two very scary and very dangerous killers after us." I concluded.

Armsmaster shrugged. "Close. You have two options. Either join the Wards where you'll have support and protection against them or don't take credit fly, under the radar."

A few moments passed. I could face of against Oni Lee but Bakuda? No way. I'll be dead along with several hundred other people.

"No credit taken for me." I answered.

"Please keep my involvement in Lung's capture a secret."

"I think you'll look back on this and see that it was a good decision." Armsmaster told us "If you're ever in a pinch, call me at the PRT Headquarters."

He step off the roof and fell out of sight. The motorcycle revved up and drove off, taking Lung away to an indefinite stay in the birdcage. 'Ever in a pinch'…. He owned us one. By taking out Lung, he owned us one. As useless as it seemed, it was a tactical advantage. I had one of the most important heroes in the city in my debt.

I made my way back home. It was well past 10 and about 20 mins from 11. I pulled off my costume and shoved it so far into the back of the wardrobe it was basically in Narnia. I went to the shower and washed off, still giddy with adrenaline pumping through my blood vessels.

Let's fucking go.


	2. Chapter 2

**~Voltage POV~**

It's not often that you get to see the biggest, most dangerous, hard to take down gang leader get taken out by piss and bugs. Damn must that be humiliating if it got out. I was perched on a rooftop well away from the fight and saw Armsmaster riding up in his sweet tricked-out motorcycle. I saw the conversation between the three capes, not like I could hear them of course.

Brockton Bay was pretty nice. With a nice blend of dilapidated buildings and abandoned buildings along with huge malls and gleaming skyscrapers it was the definition of a contrasting environment. It was pretty nice for the Legion to put me here. Interesting to say the least. I made my way back down, my suit absorbing the impact as I jumped down. I had a tinker ability that specialises in technology which manipulates electricity. So, shock gauntlets, high powered generators and such. It was about 11pm so I had another 7 hours to kill before sunrise so I decided to pack up and go to the PRT HQ.

The Legion was a global risk/asset. It was a rogue organisation that recruited many capes and humans to work under it. The leaders announced its existence to the governments of the world and the higher-ups sent the information to the PRTs around the world. Technically, they had a kill order on us but… how do you kill someone if you don't even know their faces? The Legion participates in Endbringer battles, sending 3-6 capes to assist the city to fighting them. They always sent a different combination of capes, finding out which set of powers was the magic bullet.

I was sent as an undercover spy/back-up for the PRT. I was a tall 16 year old which made me part of the Wards program. Aegis, Gallant, Vista, Clockblocker and Shadow Stalker. They were great in a sense. I had a feel of their personalities and reaction in a situation which made me the best battlefield leader out of everyone except Aegis. Both of us took the leadership role really well which opened a whole new plethora of tactics that we could use.

My suit gave me a helluva high jump so I was falling from about a mile up I'm pretty sure. I built my suit with a more brute orientation with strong arms and legs coupling with the electric charge I can use I could face of against most brutes and win or at least keep them down as Containment Foam was sprayed on them.

The impact was both loud and literally earth-shattering but luckily after about the very first time I did that they were smart enough to install sound-proof walls in the bedrooms and offices. Armsmaster strode out of the garage looking very much annoyed.

"Where were you? I thought that you're supposed to be in your quarters."

Right… Since I didn't have a house or family here I slept in the quarters where no one else slept since every other ward had a family.

"Sorry sir but I couldn't sleep and I went on a patrol instead." That seemed to comfort Armsmaster slightly.

"Right. Can you bring Lung to the prison cells? I need to call some doctors and fill up the paper work."

I nodded before heading to the garage. I saw the cage attached to it. But doctors? Why would you need doctors? I get paper work but…. oh… _That's_ why he needed doctors.

Lung's flesh was rotting. His faced was fucked up like all hell and I could see from rotten flesh just above the waist line and continued down which meant….. Nope. Nope. Not going there. Freaking large scale tissue necrosis? How the fuck did bug girl or piss boy do that? Unless… Brown Recluses. Multiple bites from Brown Recluses. Bugs are arthropods and arthropods include insects and arachnids. I opened up the cage and Lung was knocked out. Probably high strength transqs in his system.

I heaved Lung from his cage and half dragged, half carried the rotting guy to the basement or 'sub-levels' to make it sound cool and dragged him into a full titanium cell and locked the door after I was out. That was built to hold mid-level brutes and if he tries to rip through it, high pressured Containment Foam is gonna pour all over him. Not like he's gonna move any time soon. I decided to report back to Armsmaster.

"Yes, you heard me right. Large-scale tissue necrosis. Brown Recluses most likely. Get a team of doctors here now. I don't care if it's the middle of the night, we have a _dying man_ in one of the cells and it's gonna look bad if he dies in the _PRT HEADQUARTERS._ Thank you."

Armsmaster put down the phone. He was still in his flashy armor and visibly pissed.

"Uhhh. Lung is the brute cell, sir. Is there anything else needed from me?"

He waved him off "No nothing else more. Head back to your quarters. I need to finish up the rest of this paperwork."

I made my way back to the dorms. It was nice with a couch, TV, even a console. I shed my armor and googles. Actually it was less of an armor and more of a power suit. It was a power cell wired to my gauntlets which were really big. Like the Dwyane Johnson arms type big. It was full metal except for the special insulating fabric that my hands were in so I didn't get electrocuted. The boots were always on under jeans and custom-made shoes which increased my agility and speed. The power cell and gauntlets were big and clunky to move around so I got Armsmaster to help it compress down to the size of a suitcase which made it much easier to carry even though it still weighed like 3 pounds.

I stayed up on the bed for the rest of the night. Mulling over paradoxes and quantum mechanics. I was still awake and energetic despite the all nighter. Most of the Wards went to Arcadia High in the morning and came back in the afternoon so fuck me I'm still have nothing to fucking do. I could enrol in but I mean seriously. I have enough knowledge that rivals that of any single Master certification holder of any subject and then some, with this much knowledge stuck inside my head do you really think Arcadia HIGH can teach me anything new?

I decided to head to the school anyways as a visitor. Which wasn't that bad. I went there a couple of times and visitors came often enough that it was a natural thing. Just don't disturb the class or harass the kids and you'll be fine. The guards stationed at the gates were pretty nice to me after all I am a familiar face. They even gave my a teaching position for advanced science. I told them I'd consider it.

"Hey, James!" The guard, Xavier called to me as I approached the gates. "How's your day?"

"Xavier, it's 7.30 in the fricking morning. How am I supposed to tell you about my day when it hasn't even started?"

"You're right. Here for visiting?"

"Teaching actually. Uhh. I heard the biology teacher had something crop up?" Huh. Guess, I did want to teach.

"Yea, his wife went into labour and he's taking paternity leave for about 4 months. Overheard some conversation. Said the new bio teacher was horrible. Glad you're able to help." Since I was teaching I didn't need to fill up anything. Just head on to the Principal's office get a form and the teaching equipment then go.

The classrooms were filled with students, learning everything from chemistry to parahuman biology to American literature and history, the usual suspects. I went to the Principal's Office and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's James. I'm here for the teaching position you offered me."

"Come in then."

"So you want the teaching position. Which one?"

That was unexpected. I thought it'll be like job interview or something.

"Just like that. No questions or anything?"

"James. You may be sixteen but you have more knowledge to put those with doctorates and masters to shame. You're also great with the kids and all of them seem to like you. What's not to like?"

"Right. I guess the biology post then."

"Alright I'll send a note to Ms Hurding that you'll be taking…."

"Monday, Wednesday and Friday."

"Monday, Wednesday and Friday…. Alright you're all set. Just collect you're teaching items from her before going to class."

I stood up before realising I didn't know which class to go to.

"Where and when is my class?"

He typed into his computer. "Oh right. Biology lab 3 and it's at 10.30."

"Thank you, sir."

I had three-ish hours left to kill. Well fuck. I walked around the hallways of the school, familiarising myself with the entire place. I was left to my own thoughts. I was outed as Voltage the moment I joined the Wards so villains was knew who I was. Seriously being albino had its drawbacks. The only thing stopping them was a video in a previous Leviathan attack where I blew up a tidal wave in a electrical charge and since I was a tinker I had this aura of unpredictablity that kept them from truly attacking.

The PRT knew about this obviously so they told the city not to ask me about life in the Wards and ever since a shorted the electricity in a news fan because a news reporter didn't know how to fuck off when asked to the press didn't hound after me.

I stopped and looked at my watch. An hour left. How did I kill… Human's perception of time was weird. I was next to a classroom and I saw some of the students staring and gawking at me along with some gossip girls probably spreading some dumb rumours. I should really prepare for class. I went to the staff room, Ms Hunding shoved a pile of papers into my hands along with a book and a syllabus paper.

"Thank god I don't have to put up with that class everyday."

I didn't reply. I knew that any negative opinions from her would subconsciously negatively alter my opinion of the class when I walked in.

20 minutes left. More than enough time to reach class.

I walked into the lab. The class obviously wasn't here but I was surprised to see some students here despite being 5 minutes early. Guess they were excited to have a known Ward and cape to be their teacher.

The rest of the class slowly came in. Always in groups and always talking with each other about me and why I was doing here. I caught Clockblocker, Aegis and Gallant walking in as well. Aegis saw me and bobbed his head slightly. It was so small most people won't notice unless you were me and saw everything. The last of the students sat down, I looked at my watch.

"Alright class. Let's make some medicine." In a German accent.

 **Sorry for the change in tone for this chapter but I couldn't think of a way to shoehorn Voltage into the story by the time Leviathan comes so this was it. My writing style involves jumping from perspective to perspective and maybe time shifting slightly. Don't worry you should be able to follow it. Read and review.**


End file.
